Fans visit displays of Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 26, 2014, in Cooperstown, N.Y. The former Major League Baseball players will be inducted to the hall on Sunday. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) ORG XMIT: NYMG110

Tony La Russa, who took the A's to consecutive American League pennants from 1989-90 and won the World Series with Oakland in 1989, emphasized repeatedly today that he did not feel comfortable about the proceedings.

La Russa is just going to get used to it: He's a Hall of Famer. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame today along with fellow managers Joe Torre of the Yankees and Bobby Cox of the Braves, and players Frank Thomas – who helped lead the A's to their only ALCS appearance of the past 24 years in 2006 – and Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, two of the Braves' Big Three starters.

La Russa, who began his managerial career with the White Sox, also took the Cardinals to titles in 2006 and 2011.

Still a Bay Area resident, La Russa said, "It's uncomfortable, because I didn't make it as a player. Not even close. And even as a manager there were some moments, this couldn't happen. I remember Paul Richards introduced me to my first minor league club in Knoxville to the chamber of commerce and he said, 'If you're wondering about this boy who's going to manage this team and you heard the worst players make the best managers, this young man has a chance to be an outstanding manager.'

"How it hurts to hear the truth. After a couple of games, he came out and I said, 'What do you think?' And he said, 'I think you may have been a better player than I thought.' "

La Russa delivered his remarks in front of one of the largest crowds in Hall of Fame history, estimated to be 50,000 or more. Among the representatives from the great A's teams La Russa managed: former players Carney Lansford, Dave Henderson and Dave Stewart, along with Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley; and former owner Wally Haas, former GM Sandy Anderson and former pitching coach Dave Duncan. Among La Russa's guests: former NFL coach Bill Parcells and recently retired Tigers manager Jim Leyland, a close friend.

La Russa noted at one point during his speech that communication with his players with key, and he used Stewart as one example.

"Communication is such a key, and I used to communicate with Stew: I just listened to him and did what he said," La Russa said of the famously intense starter. "Except one time. Stew took the mound, and like a lot of great starters, he wants the game until the bitter end or the great end, and this day, Stew is getting beat up. A lot of doubles in the gap, cutoffs and relays....I come get him, finally. I get to the mound, he turns and says, 'What are you doing here?'"I said. 'Stew, I've got to get you.'

Thomas, like Maddux and Glavine a first-ballot Hall of Famer, delivered the most emotional speech today, voice breaking and wiping away tears especially when discussing his late father, Frank Sr., and late hitting coach Walt Hriniak.

"They all became friends," Thomas said after the ceremony. "All those guys had something to do with my career on the field or off the field. Believe it or not, I cut 50 guys, and I felt bad. I wish I could have got everyone in. I could not forget my teammates, they got me here. I did not drive in those runs myself."

Thomas reeled off so many names, Brad Horn of the Baseball Hall of Fame said, to general laughter, that the Hall would have the final figures available later.

Thomas mentioned most of the 2006 A's, including late starter Joe Kennedy. "He left too soon," Thomas said of Kennedy, who died in 2007 of a heart problem at the age of 28.

Thomas told me after the ceremony that Kennedy's widow, Jami, and son, Kaige, were at today's ceremony, which meant a lot to Thomas and his wife, Megan. Thomas kept Kennedy's glove in his locker during his final big-league season.

The event drew 48,000, the third-largest crowd ever for the induction ceremonies, and the field full of people in front of the stage was staggering for the new inductees.

"I was shocked when we turned that corner," Thomas said. "Ozzie Smith was in the back of the bus with me and he said, 'It's for real now. Look at all those people. Take it all in.' "

La Russa said he finally came to terms with the idea of being in the Hall of Fame by thinking about all of those he'd worked with over the years.

"I am not comfortable on this stage, personally," he said. "But I was in three great situations, great. ... And I believe the way to accept this tremendous honor is as a representative of all those mentors, coaches and members of the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals."